


Currently unnamed

by ScottishEuphoria



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Attack on Titan Alternate Storyline, Bread, Combat, Gen, Gloria - Freeform, Gloria Sylva, Haemophobia, Hemophobia, Jaden - Freeform, Jaden Ulfonz, Jared Heltafon, OC's - Freeform, Plot developement, Training, alternate storyline, no canon characters, non-canon, non-canon characters - Freeform, original storyline, titan invasion, trainees
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:32:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2411729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScottishEuphoria/pseuds/ScottishEuphoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The main protagonist of this original/alternative storyline is Jaden Ulfonz, a shrewd and precocious boy with a mostly nonchalant demeanor about him, living in the northwestern side of Shiganshina.<br/>The characters in my story will have little to no interaction with the canon characters: in fact, I plan on the canons not being more than mentions.<br/>All Volumes are two chapters in one</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. From Bread to Ruin, Three bread for your troubles

Chapter One - From Bread To Ruin

  
  


The first sight we set eyes upon is of a boy roughly 11 years of age, reading a book in his room, lying on his bed with his head propped against his hand which in turn rests against the wall. As we join him to have a look at the book he's reading, it actually turns out to be a sketchbook of the areas outside the walls, the only remnants of his dad who died during his service in the Survey Corps. He fiddles with his lights jacket as he blocks off memories of the creator of said sketchbook, looking upon the images with internal intruige yet an apparent and unflappably analytical expression.

"Jaden," Call his mom from the bottom of the ladder leaning to his room, "Come down here and chop some wood."

"Just did," Jaden replies.

"Come and chop some more," She tells him. Jaden could practically feel her face pull a back - handed scowl as her tone shifted accordingly,  " That is, unless you don't want dinner to finish cooking."

"Kay then," he comfirms, closing the book down and heading out of the room to chop wood up. But, since that's not a very interesting prospect, let's linger behind to take a look at the cleverly titled  Ode to the King's Glory .

Looking forward to when the stove had been stocked with freshly chopped firewood and when dinner had finished, Jaden sits steadily putting spoonfuls of soup into his mouth. His mother had scarfed down her soup to none of her conscious recognition and now stares intently at her son nonchalantly eating stew. He looks at his mom while sucking remnants of foods from between his teeth. He lets out a simple "Hm?"

"Jaden... please don't," She pleads, the subect of the statement being obvious, "We lost your father. Why do you still want to do it?"

"Where else would I go? You said yourself I'm a precocious and resourceful person and, by my estimation, I also have good reflexes," he articulates. One would think the way he spoke this sentence that he has it scripted.

"And I would hope that you use it to survive!" she raises her voice, "All of those talents go to waste when you go off and kill yourself!"

"That's a risk even you face," he reasons, looking directly, firmly, and yet somehow sympathetically into his mother's eyes, " Anytime, the titans could find a way through Wall Maria, and humanity would again begin to be devoured."

"But you've never told me why you want to do this. You told me three weeks ago you wanted to join," She begins to tear up and her voice raises higher, shaking more than she herself leaning on her hands on the table, "Do you think this'll avenge your father?"

"Partially," He begins to consider, tilting his head thoughtfully to the side and back again, "But mostly, I think my talents will be best put to use there. Besides, I've always admired the Scout Regiment."

"If you're going to join the military you could at least consider the Military Police!"

"The military police are..." Jaden begins, clenching his brow, "there's something off about them. I don't think they really have everyone's best interest in mind."

"Please, just," His mother begins, slowly sitting back down, quaking as she does so, "Stay here... please. Help me with the farm... for the rest of my life."

"I can't do that."

"Why do you want to prove yourself so badly?" She asks, hand in her lap , staring blanky at the table, "What do you think that's worth? Why not just live peacefully within the walls?"

"There are some in here that argue we are just livestock, waiting for the titans to feed on us. A viewpoint that I just so happen to agree with. But regardless of that, the Scout Regiment is for me to prove my talents to myself, and to improve those talents."

Jaden's mom remains silent as she regains her composure. She scrambled for something to say before the bells begin to toll. Jaden smiles to his mom who looks at him gravely. He scarfs the rest of his stew and stands up.

"I'm going to watch the Sruvey Corps return," He states. His mother, simply returning "okay," gathers up the dishes and puts them in a sinkful of warm water.

 

* * *

 

 

Jaden takes his place on an empty box near the gate of Wall Maria to await the arrival of the Survey Corps from their mission. While examining the crowd who had gathered, he saw a bright- faced young man with short hair standing next to a girl with black eyes and hair. He saw in the boy few other thingsa but idiocy and in the girl, fiercness. Quickly disinterested in the children, he turns his attention to the now lifting gate, revealing the members of the Scout Regiment trudging in on their horses. He takes quick notice of both the faces of the Regiment members and the chatters of the citizens. He watches the scene of a mother being shown the arm of her son, a regiment member yelling with grief over their lack of progress unfold. Shortly herafter, post the Scout Regiment walking off down the road of the street, Jaden's attention is turned to a scuffle between the same boy he saw and a citizen, followed by the boy being dragged off by the girl.

'What a hot-headed idiot,' he thinks to himself. He steps down from his soapbox, walking back to his own house. Along the walk he takes notice of the interactions between other people, and between the commoners and the wall cult. He wags it off with an accompanying movement of his head as he takes the path back to his house.

'Should probably get bread while I'm out,' He thinks as he walk past an annoying wall pastor, "The fluffy kind. It'll go great with the stew.'

Jaden takes a detour from his route to go to the market, wherein he searches for too long even by his estimation for what he sees as the perfect loaf of bread. When he gets to it, he smirks, picks it up, and gives it a gentle squeeze.

'Perfect.'

The merchant asks if Jaden intents to pay for the bread. He does, the boy says, and hands the merchant the necessary funds in exchange for the bread. Grinning to himself and rubbing his fingers over the bread, Jaden begins a long yet happy trod back home down a safe street, looking on the scenes of children playing with each other, mothers pampering their own, parents and grandparents teaching their grandchildren various things about the world. That is, until  _it_  happened.

A huge bolt of lightning struck just outside the wall. Before he had time to ponder the anomalous nature and strangeness of the lightning, a seismic a shockwave flings him onto the cobblestone street, face and arm first. He briefly laments the ruination of his now smushed and dirty bread, but only in the brief time before he sees a gigantic hand grip the top of his wall. He squints and holds his head after he feels a sharp pain at the forefront of it, deciding he is hallucinating before standing up. The two things that tell him he is not hallucinating are the of terror on other peoples' faces and the dilation of their pupils as he turns his attention to see what they have seen. The hand is now guiding up a face, the skinless face of some evil god far removed from its own time, seeming to look on the faces of the terrified citizens with malicious indifference. In the next instance, boulders and chunks of the wall fly through the air before the sound of the wall being blasted apart makes it to Jaden's ears. The next sound he heard was immediate; the sound of boulders crashing behind him and no time had passed before he felt what seemed like warm water splashed all over his back, dripping down and contaminating his legs, soaking his socks and pooling in his shoes. Jaden, rather than look to see what it was, assumes it's the fluids of people behind him squished by the boulders. This belief is reaffirmed when he turns around and sees how dangerously close the boulders were to hitting him as well, and the streaks of blood splashing out of the sources to where he had stood. Briefly following a frozen moment he runs away, circumnavigating the rocks, to the first place he himself could think of: away, to the other side of the wall; to evacuate Shiganshina. The first coherent thoughts came to him shortly thereafter. He though of the titans, and how they would now be permitted into the wall by the new gaping hole.

Pretty soon, he joins a panicking crowd on his way to Wall Maria, same as they. Even he is not right of mind at the moment, and tries to keep up with the crowd flooding to the evacuation boats, and begins attempting to climb over the heads of taller people. As the act of climbing over the grasping hands reminded him of climbing trees and therefore his home, his thoughts went to his mother. Briefly frozen, he is thrown onto his head once again by panicking citizens, and he stumble his way through the river of humanity as his most recent conversation with his mother stands up in his mind as soon as he manages to himself.

'Mom.... I should have helped her. I should have gone home, but...' Jaden thinks with tears in his eyes, stumbling forward and looking back over top peoples' heads, 'now I can't go back. The crowd's too thick. I'll get trampled if it try to go back.'

He looks up as a humanoid shade appears over the crowd and he looks into the face of a 60-foot tall naked beast of a being and mockery of the human form, hands and knees on the buildings, with a thin and stomach-churning grin on its face. He along with the crowd run for their lives well before the titan reaches into them, and pulls a human being out of them not too far from Jaden. Look away, he thinks as the titan brings a screeching child to its mouth, an act he couldn't perform no matter how he tried to make himself, to his own horror. He looks on with increasingly widening pupils as he watches the titan bring the child past its teeth leg-first and chomp him just below the arms, sending a sickening red mist over the crowd and into Jaden's hair. No longer able to tell if he's running or standing still, Jaden lets out a primordial, horrified screech rivaled by none other than fellow onlookers in the crowd, surpassed only by those who had blood from the child drip on to them from the titan's lips. The titan swallows the rest of the child before selecting another member of the crowd to eat. It was at this point Jaden finally managed to turn himself around and see that Wall Maria was not far ahead, gate still open. Like hive mind, everybody made a mad dash to the gate.

They all manage to make it to the other side of Wall Maria, where Jaden dashes out of the crowd to lean against the wall on one hand. He could not do so long, however, and fell on his hands and knees. The smell of blood just then got to him, and he decided to have a butchers at just how much blood is covering his body. He raises a shaky hand and looks it over. No blood. He extends his arm and finds the back of his jacket sleeve covered in now rusty crimson. Disgusted by the idea of the dead's life fluid, and all while yelling incoherently, tears the jacket off his back, leaving only his long-sleeve button-up, and begins tearing clumps of blood-peppered hair out of his scalp. The blood-soaked shirt now lay in front of him and the smell hits him fiercer than before as he rips out ever more hair and lets it cascade onto his now ruined articled of fabric. By the time he had worked a bald spot onto his head, central just above his forehead, he ceases screaming and stares blankly at the pile in front of or, depending on perspective, below him on weak legs and weaker arms. This was, until a frightened yet dutiful Garrison soldier appears and shouts at him.

"Hey kid, what are you doing! You need to get on the boats! We're evacuating!"

Jaden looks at the soldier helplessly, perhaps ready to puke, light and life torn from the eyes of a walking dead person, once brown eyes turned to void. The soldier immediately slings Jaden over his shoulder, who cannot bring himself to respond or even flinch as his stomach and ribcage are slammed into the soldier's shoulder, and carries him over to the river, where they were beginning to load a fresh boat. They began by loading children and parents first. The Garrison soldier set Jaden in front of the boat, and Jaden steps forward with no other motive than a place to sit, and no thought in his mind besides, if one were to count them, the processing of what had just happened.

"Hey, kid. Are your parents with you?" Asks a different soldier. Jaden looks into the eyes of the soldier and says nothing. Well, nothing verbally that is; his eyes say it all. He heard but did not listen to the ensuing conversation between the Garrison soldiers as they led more children onto the ships.

"More orphans, huh?"

"Yep. They all got the same look in their eyes, too. Probably saw their parents get eaten in front of their eyes."

"D'ya think any of their parents survived?"

"Impossible to say."

The soldiers, once children and parents were loaded aboard, began loading other people. Jaden was incapable of thought from the time he entered Wall Maria to the time the boat arrives in Wall Rose. Jaden, in this time frame, he payed no mind to the prayers of the people or the eventual sound of canon fire, nor the strange commotion that was the sound of a wall busting open once again. His thoughts centred around his mom and the events he had experienced even as he had reached wall Rose and was being escorted to refugee areas by Garrison Soldiers.

  
  


Chapter Two

Three Bread For Your Troubles

 

"We need to even out the population of the refugees!" Shouts a soldier to others preparing to dock the boat, "This one's starting to get full: we need to send refugees to other areas before we can accept more!"

"Well, where should we take them?"

"Send this group to the west: that one has the least amount of people right now."

"But that'll up the rest of the day entirely. These people need food now!"

"Don't worry, we'll hand bread out to them before the boats starts moving again."

The boat on which Jaden travels reaches the dock in Rose. After a soldier tells them to remain on board, a riot breaks out on the boat, which takes the entire force of every soldiers' vocal chords to calm down. A soldier then explains to them they are going to receive bread and move on. This is just enough to calm the better portion of the people on the boat, who eventually by proxy calm down the others. Within a good few minutes, soldiers show up with bags of bread, who then pass it out to the people on the boat. Each person receives two pieces of bread, a rather risky thing to do because of the rapidly onsetting food shortage. In addition to the bread, everyone on the boat receives small leather canteens of water, which some people, including Jaden, gulp down within seconds. Jaden, however, saved some of the water he knew he would need after a day travelling under sunlight. Jaden, expecting another nine hours of silent lamentation, was struck up in conversation by one of the children near him, a girl with understandably scraggly ear-length black hair.

"You saw them too, huh?" the child asks, a few seconds passing by before Jaden decides she is talking to him.

"Yeah," he deadpans, turning his head toward her.

"Who got eaten?"

"Some kid I don't know," he says, images from the devouration flashing into his retinas, "and probably my mother."

"You didn't actually see your mom get eaten?"

"No, I was in the market when it all started. People did get crushed by boulders, however. Their... their blood soaked my backside entirely," he stutters the final part of his thought, bringing his hand to his face.

"Oh.... Why do you think this happened?" She asks with a good while of silence in between her talking.

"No idea..." Jaden responds, staring a hole through the floor of the boat. Their conversation ends here, and the rest of the boat ride carries on in silence as Jaden had expected it to.

The boat ride took less time than everyone had thought, arriving in western Rose while the day had turned late afternoon. Everyone began to stream off the boat before they were even told to do so, and Jaden who had half a loaf of bread left, stuffed it into his sleeve while he was in the crowd getting off.

'Where is the food station?' he wonders as he scans the crowd in the refugee area. His eyes fall upon a person who is receiving bread. Jaden smirks, 'Yess...' He joins the line for food and before too long recieves another loaf of bread.

Jaden takes a seat on the cobblestone half-wall of the covered walkway and exchanges the new loaf of bread for the one in his sleeve, now slightly flattened. He begins tearing off pieces of it as he listens to conversations and griping of the less honourable members of the Garrison Regiment.

"God damn refugees. There's not going to be enough food to sniff at this rate."

"Yeah. If only the titans took care of more of them. Food for titans means food for us."

The rest of the conversation went similarly, making Jaden dangerously close to bursting a blood vessel. This feeling lasted in him for only a brief half-minute before he decides to laugh it off.

'They'd probably shit themselves if they saw a titan,' he thinks. This thought brings about another. He was reaffirmed in his drive to join the military and be able to kill them. To kill the things that crushed those people, the creature who ate that child, who sprayed the disgusting mixture, the essence of all that lives and move, over him. His brow narrows as he recalls these events, and the face of his crying mother. He then bites off an all-too-full mouthful of bread and forces it immediately down his throat.

'For now, though,' he begins to think, 'there's no way I can kill titans. I'm going to join the military as soon as possible.' The thought may not have seemed like much, but this thought contained more determination than he had put into almost anything, and of course we know that action begins in thought. Jaden gives a small smirk and shoves the rest of the bread down his throat by some miracle of physics.

Over the next year, of course, he was put to work in the fields to cultivate crops for food and had witnessed people being selected for the "Retake Wall Maria Mission", the only positive thought about leading citizens to their deaths being that he had no one left precious to him to lose. Two years later at the age of thirteen, he joins the West Division 104th trainee squad.

 

 


	2. Volume Two: Blah Blah, The Rebreadening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaden Ulfonz joins the trainees squad and meets some new people.

Chapter Three  
Something Something

"Attention cadets," Calls a short man with spiky hair and piercing eyes, in front of a crowd before him of cadets. My my this man looks like he knows a thing or two about breaking down rookies

"You have landed me as your instructor, My name is Herth Brookfield. Looking at you, names are merely formalities; you are all titan niblets right now . You wouldn't last even against our titan dummies," He monologues, shifting his way to the cadet nearest him, shouting "what is your name". The frightened cadet produces his name, or rather the first syllable of it, "Ha-", and Herth immediately kicks him in the shin, sending him right on to his arse.

"You forgot your salute, soldier. Try again"

Ha- tries to get up but is kicked back down by Herth, who says, "I'll get back to you after I round the cadets. I expect a better salute than any of them could muster!" Herth proceeds down the cadets, all of who make sure not to make the same mistake Ha- did. Nonetheless, he made them feel worthless about whatever goals and motives they have in mind. He approaches Jaden, who is near the end of the second row, and stops in front of him. He looks Jaden in the eyes who of course looks back with a patient expression. Herth chuckles once to himself with a face devoid of any evidence of a smile and skips Jaden, moving on to the other cadets. Now, to be sure, if Drill Sergeant Herth's presence had not suppressed it, there would be significant amounts of jeer, or at least chatter. All Cadets shot him a dirty look, but that did not compare to the looks given to him by the ego-busted cadets. He of course is not phased in the least by the ever growing amount of death stares as more cadets are reamed of their motivation and turned about-face. As he was rounding the cadets, we find a few people who look like they might be main characters.  
When Herth approaches a tall fat boy and begins shouting at him, the boy answers everything haughtily and extremely defensively.

"Who the hell are you!"

"I'm Gilden Dilbo."

"That's it? Where do you come from?"

"Haltrapper Village in Wall Maria."

"And how did your fat ass manage to haul itself over here? What are your plans?"

"I'm going to join the military police."

"Do you think the Military Police want a fatass eating all their food? You're nothing more than titan chow, and damn appetising one at that."

"Well, okay then."

"Don't fucking backtalk me," Shouts Herth, kneeing Gilden in the crotch before shouting, "I'm surprised your fat didn't block that one. Third row, about face."  
Directly after Gilden, Herth approaches a chubby boy about the same hight as himself, and of course shouts at the boy.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Jove Doven, from Jaranshin Village"

"Why are you here?"

"I'm going to join the Scout Regiment."

"The Scout Regiment huh? And you don't think that's stupid?"

"No, not really. I just think that going outside the walls is the best thing to do."

"Really?" He prompts, leaning into Jove's face, "Because you look more worthless than the ballbusted fatass over there. Third row, about face."

Though Jaden doesn't pay any more attention from there, he catches a conversation with someone named Boldor, aiming for the Garrison regiment. Expectedly, he gets reamed and he is told "third row, about face". There was one person though who caught Jaden out of his far-awayness and just so happened to be the last cadet in the lineup.

"And Who the fuck are you?"

"I am Lliam Brown, from Chomatu Village on the far outskirts of Wall Maria, and I will pledge my heart to the Scout Regiment!" Says he with an enthusiasm that makes Jaden turn around to look at him like someone had just left a body in the middle of the ground.

"... Is that true?"

"Yes sir. Humanity cannot fight back unless there are people who are willing to and if you plan to hide in the interior your are only further reinforcing that humanity will be devoured."

"... Third row."

Jaden looked on with a crossed brow and awe-inspired second hand embarrassment.

'Why on Earth is anybody that.... outspoken. Why would somebody say that, and why is Herth fine with all that?"  
Herth finally approaches Jaden, who despite the circumstances, meets the driller's eyes as blankly as the first time.

"Third row, cadet," Herth places his hands on Jaden's shoulder and turns him about.

Jaden later joins up with the other cadets in the mess hall who are predictably asking him questions. The main ones of the crowd being Ha- from earlier (who, it turns out, is named Harvey), and a short round-faced fellow with jaw length hair whose name, Ayden Balc, was learnt from an earlier conversation, and a few other, the faces of whom Jaden never bothers to even look at as he is crowded around while eating by at first angry and confused cadets.

"Hey, why didn't Herth bust your balls?" Asks a horse-faced cadet with long, parted hair.

"Don't know. He just looked at me and chuckled," Replies Jaden.

"Why'd he do that?" Asks Harvey.

"I don't know. I was going to tell him about Shiganshina when he approached me but he just moved on," Jaden commented as a collective gasp rounded the crowd, drawing Lliam and Jove over.

"You're from Shiganshina?!" Asks a tall an muscular blond.

"Yeah. I saw the titans," Says Jaden, looking to his soup, "among other things."

"That means you also saw the Colossal Titan, right?" asks the same Blondie.

"Yeah"

"What did it look like?" Asks Harvey

"It was 60 metres tall and had almost no skin. It eclipsed the sun as well, striking fear into the masses."

"Did you see the Armoured Titan?" Asks Blondie

"What armoured titan?" Asks Jaden, looking perplexedly at Blondie.

"The one that broke through Wall Maria," he elaborates.

"No, I didn't see that one. Maybe I managed to flee before it got there."

"If you fled from Shiganshina, then why are you here? You should be in the south division of the trainees," asks horse-face.

"They told my boat to come to the west before the southern refuge area would accept more people fleeing from wall Maria. Likewise, I wouldn't be surprised if there are people in the east, the north, or even others here who faced the titan threat. I'm sure there are others he's skimmed over just like me," Jaden says, sipping his soup and then shivering at its blandness, "did he skip over anyone else? I wasn't paying attention during most of the orientation."

 

"Well there were a few, but I heard him chuckle at you."

"Then perhaps I'm just better," Jaden jokes, illiciting a few angry looks. "Oh come on, it's a joke. I'm sure once we start training there'll be plenty of people better than me."

"Okay. Then let's just... leave him alone," Commanded the muscular Blondie. What surprises Jaden is that everyone actually disperses. With the exception of Lliam.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" He asks. Jaden shrugs and slowly sweeps his hand in front of him. Lliam takes a seat in front of Jaden.

"So what are you going to do?" Asks Lliam.

"Scout Regiment," Jaden responds.

"That's cool. So you saw the titans but you weren't phased?"

"Yes, I was, don't mistake my outward composure for an inability to feel. Only the worst type of psychopath doesn't feel fear. It did phase me, in an irreparable way. But my rationale is: I want to do my part to make sure that doesn't happen to other people. Well," he pauses, biting his bread and forcing it down against the flow of his words, "Being seen as a badass titan slayer wouldn't be too bad either."

These words caused Lliam to laugh at a volume that made Jaden scrinch his eyelids just a bit, with inhales that reminded him of a duck's call. Jaden lets out a nervous laugh just to relieve his own tension as people look on, even more disoriented than Jaden.

"But seriously though, that's really admirable. You've got more courage than most people who have the whole "calm and untouchable" demeanour," Lliam reasons.

"Really? I thought the purpose of that demeanour was so you can be the one to respond to stressful situations," Jaden responds.

"Most of them seem that way, but it's when those situations arise when you see what people are really made of," Lliam reasons, illiciting a confirming "Hm" out of Jaden and continues, "and the fact that you decided to come here despite having seen the titans makes me think you really are that kind of person."

"Well thank you," Jaden says. They continue discussing from here what their own goals are, and it turns out that Lliam actually saw the titans from afar and managed to flee on horseback. He didn't actually see the titans eat anyone, and Jaden decides to discuss his experience, holding his head up when he remembers the blood of the child, telling Lliam of feeling "unusually lightheaded"; Nevertheless, he finishes his story. Lliam looks at Jaden with awe and compliments him once again on his courage. Jaden shrugs it off by saying he'll have to wait until ODM training to see if he can even be a soldier. Then bells toll, saying it is the time to go to sleep. Jaden of course takes care of his dishes and swipes the bread of someone who isn't looking on his way out of the mess hall. Of course, he swallows the whole thing with a few full mouths. After Jaden gest to his sleeping quarters he immediately realises almost all of the bunks had been taken, let alone the top bunks. He approaches who appears to be the most nervous cadet in the room and asks him for the top bunk he has. The boy looks around and agrees to move from he bunk to a bottom bunk that is under Gilden: the only bunk left in this sleeping quarter.

'Aw, poor bastard. But, at least I'm not under the cocky, cock-kicked fatass,' thinks Jaden as he leaps up onto the bed and lands on his ass, and without the use of hands no less. Come to find out, Jaden has Blondie under his bunk.

"Oh, hey. Where'd the other guy go?" Blondie asks when he reproaches his bunk.

"Under fatrolls. I wanted a top bunk, asked for one and he surprisingly obliged," Jaden explains, "by the way, what's your name?"

"I'm Jared Heltafon. You probably didn't listen during the orientation because I'm not that interesting. I'm from Rykefall village and I'm aiming to stay inside the walls."

"Understandable," Jaden says with a nod, "Not everyone is willing to risk their lives for obvious reasons. That being said, I'm assuming you haven't seen any titans, have you?"

"No. Like most people, I'm here because if I'm not, society will see me as a pansy."

"That's also understandable. But despite you wanting to stay inside the walls, you should probably learn these skills. You'll want to be able to do something if you have to face them."

"Yeah... Well, I didn't say I wasn't gonna try. Who knows, I might make it into the Military Police. That's what everybody wants, right?"

"Precisely, if they want to stay within the walls. But those who've already made an alternative decision will not aim for the best."

"Have you made an alternate decision?"

"Yes I have," Jaden responds, adding nothing further on the subject and then yawning, "I'm going to try to go to sleep. I'm not really one for socialising you see, especially when I'm tired."

"Okay," Jared responds while sitting on his bunk.

Jaden picks up the pillow to his bed, flops onto his side, and places the pillow over his ear. Surprisingly, he manages to fall asleep in such a position; although he wakes up in the middle of the night because he has to pee. After he pees into the plants outside and re-enters the bunkhouse however, he wonders whether it is the snoring of Gilden that really woke him up.

"He sounds like someone's putting a duck's ass to a grindstone," he comments to himself out loud, and is confused when he hears chuckling. He hears the whispers of someone else; judging from the location of the laughter and the ensuing whisper, determines it is his bunkmate.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You're laughing, so who's has more wrong with him," Jaden accu-states.

"That's still you. But once I see some action, I guess I'll be just as fucked up as you."

"Perhaps. Then again, you may not want to see anymore once you do."

"Well... like you said I need to be able to do something."

"Yes. It does help to be prepared," Jaden responds leaping onto his bed in the same style he did as earlier, "By the way, how much later after I feel asleep did everybody else do so as well?"

"Well, you actually went to sleep almost immediately, and everybody talked for probably two hours."

"Including you?"

"Yes.

"Then why are you now awake?"

"I dunno. I've never needed to sleep as much as other people."

"So now we're both probably stuck awake? Do you think we could try going back to sleep?"

"You could, I guess. I think the best I can do is lie here until we're woken up."

"Alright," Jaden obliges as he lies on his side. Like before, he falls asleep with surprising ease, leaving Jared to simply stare at the underside of the top bunk until they are awoken for ODM aptitude testing.

According to the records, the trainees performed as such:

Jaden Ulfonz - initially surprised, but perfectly balanced nonetheless. Likely going to be one of the best performers in 3D Gear training.

Lliam Brown - Balanced well, but shifted around a lot

Gilden Dilbo - Fell flat on his fat face. I expect him to drop out.

Jove Doven - Shaky, but managed to stay up.

Bolden Eidor - Balanced decently, with a lot of leg shifting. Seemed to catch on as he balanced more.

Jared Heltafon - Well-balanced, is expected to do well in training.

Ayden Balc - Decently balanced

These cadets are of course the only ones we know. As predicted, Gilden dropped out of cadets after merciless laughing-at by the other trainees, and went to work in the fields.

Looking again into the mess hall two nights after the basic training exercises began, we see people frequenting a few words with Jaden and Jared, among other trainees talented with ODM, mostly being off-handed compliments. That being said, many other trainees are simply eating and not caring: many are most likely exhausted. Jaden's table is looking a little different from earlier: now consisting of himself, Ayden, Lliam, and Jaden. They were currently discussing the rumours of what happened to Gilden, of which there are currently many.

"People are saying he strung himself up by his own fat," Jared deadpans.

"Well, I dont know about that. They probably mistook him for cattle and slaughtered him for meat," Jaden jests, pumping out his third theory since Gilden dropped out.

"My theory is that he got eaten by a titan!" Lliam states firmly for the umpeenth time.

"Again, how would he have gotten near a titan?" Jaden questions.

"Well how else does anybody die these days?" Lliam responds, shoveling spoonfuls of soup into his mouth.

"Well, that's about as solid as any of the theories we've come up with so far," Jaden admits, "although it does seem pretty realistic to think that he killed himself."

"Maybe he ate himself to death," Ayden throws in. Jaden chuckles at this.

"Perhaps," Jaden gets out.

"I can't help feeling bad for him," Jared chimes in.

"Whatya mean?" Lliam asks.

"I mean, I expected him to drop out, but the way everybody treated him seems a little cruel," Jared explains.

"Yes, that's true, but," Jaden points out, "the best we can do is ignore it and look at now. I too feel badly for Gilden on some level, but we're in training, people are going to drop out. Best thing we can say is: oh, well."

"You're right," Lliam responds, "By the way, I say the way you balance in three-d gear, that was fucking awesome."

"Er. Thank you," Jaden absorbs.

"No seriously, you use that shit like a boss! You did, too Jared. Great job," he insists.

"Thank you," Jared and Jaden say simultaneously, making them lock eyes. Jared chuckles nervously as Jaden looks back to the other two at the table.

"You guys did well, too," Jaden returns, "Training's gonna be a bitch. But you know. We can probably get through it. Probably"

"Oh, we'll get through it. And we'll kick training's ass," Lliam states determinately, standing up and saluting, " and we'll kick the titans' asses! Now everyone at this table needs to make a pact that immediately after we graduate, we'll join the Scout Regiment," Lliam finishes off by putting his fist in the middle of the table, and would have attracted the attention of the mess hall, but everyone seemed a little occupied. Immediately Ayden and Jaden put their respective fists in the middle. Ayden with about the same enthusiasm as Lliam, with a fitting "yeah", Jaden's fist calmly meeting Lliam's and him claiming he's "already there". The whole table turns their attention to Jared, how gives a lazy half-smirk and slaps his open palm over the three others' fists.

"Sure, why not," Jared shrugs.

"Yeah!" Shouts Lliam and Ayden as all four of them throw their hands up.

"How much time do we have left to eat?" asks Jaden as he bites into his bread with his other hand.

"I don't know," Ayden responds, prompting Jaden to inhale all the food in front of him. After he had swallowed his final mouthful of stew, his attention was drawn to a growing crowd in the centre of the room.

'What the hell is going on now?' Jaden wonders as he looks at the crowd tearing off a piece of bread with his teeth. The question in his mind is answered when he hears two other trainees arguing, and wonders how he didn't hear it earlier, immediately followed by the conclusion that he couldn't hear it over his own moderately-volumed conversation. What are they arguing about?

"What the fuck is it with you?" Shouts a fresh-faced cadet with short dirty-blond hair

"I don't know that you're talking about," responds the horse-faced cadet from a few days ago.

"I don't want to hear you bragging!"

"Bragging about what? Being better than yo-"

The argument was cut short by a few wild swings by the shorter cadet, all of which miss, and the taller cadet preparing to strike back. As the other trainnes prepared a swing, Jared steps in and lowers the trainee's arm.

"What's this all about?" Jared asks

"Ask this jackass!" exclaimed Horseface. Jared looks at the shorter cadet.

"What's your name?" asks Jared.

"Bolden" Responds the cadet.

"Bolden, what happened here?"

"This jackass keeps braggin and I told him to shut up like a thousand times." Bolden explains

"I was just discussing my performance and this guy gets all pissy." Interrupts the other cadet.

"You were being a total dick," Bolden reclaims

"You're jealous is what," Responds the other.

"Shut it!" shouted Jared, shoving his hand over the other two's mouths, who both slap his hand away. He turns his slapped-away hands into pointers, each to opposite ends of the mess hall, "You guys are acting like children. It's clear that you need to get away from each other, so do that."

"Who are you to tell us what to do?" Asks horse face as Bolden gathers his tray, pausing when Horse-face asks this.

"Obviously some smarter," responds Jared, giving Horse-face a death stare that none have yet witnessed. Regardless, Horse-face stands his ground.

"So y-you're saying you're better than me?" He asks with a slight falter.

"I'm saying you've probably not been known for being either intelligent or mature. It's pretty embarrassing, really. Even the person you were irritating is now smart enough to walk away from you," Jared explains, making Horse face grunt and withdraw, taking up his tray and walking away, muttering under his breath. Jared then goes over to talk to Bolden and we return to the lunch table with the others.

"Hm," Jaden hums.

"That was badass," Lliam admires immediately after Jaden makes his sound, illiciting another one out of Jaden in the form of a snicker.

"Well, I guess I'll be sure to not get in an argument with anybody," Jaden jokes.

The whole incident had, with the exception of Jaden's table of course, caused silence to ring briefly around the mess hall which only just before the bells' tolls began to deteriorate. It was lucky for everyone that the awkward silence made everybody eat faster, though there was still a collective groan after the bells sound as everyone forced the rest of their food into their bodies as quickly as possible before they go off to their bunks.

Jared meets back up with Lliam, Ayden, and Jaden, who chatter excitedly and exchange jokes all the way to the bunks and then some: all sitting in Jaden's bunk. They get on reminiscing once again about the future: same ol' same ol'. Before long, however, Lliam and Ayden decide to go off to their own bunks, leaving Jaden and Jared to shift topic to a new conversation, with an entirely different tone. Unfortunately narrative error has caused a miss in what led up to the current point of conversation.

"About what you remarked on before Lliam left," Jared responds to something, "if I had to guess, I would say if you were to die, you'd accidentally do it to yourself."

"The hell does that mean?" Jaden demands.

"Well, recently during ODM training, you've been trying to get a little too fancy," Jared explains.

"That's because I can't stand holding back when I understand the basic manoeuvres all too well," Jaden explains, "and the drill sergeant doesn't seem to mind."

"I know that, but you just have to put up with pacing yourself to other people. If we all followed along your pace, even I would have trouble keeping up," He explains.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Jaden admits, "This is still an institution: holding back the talented so the mediocre can keep up."

"So you're saying you're a genius?"

"Not a genius, per se, but I am talented."

"You're also not very good at giving advice."

"Am I not?"

"Like when that recruit struggling to do the manoeuvres properly asked you for advice-"

"Uh-huh"

"- and you said 'I don't know, just focus on your balance muscles'?"

"The thing about that is: There have got to be balance muscles, right? They're somewhere, I just don't know where they could be. I thought maybe he knows and that would make some sense to him."

"Is that why he walked away looking disappointed?"

"I know how he feels. I'm right along with him: I have no idea what, or where, the balance muscles are."

Jared remains silent for a second before chuckling bursts out of him.

"You're something else," Jared remarks

"That's why I'm here," Jaden responds, lying back on his mattress, "well, good night"

"The hell, really? It's so early."

"Right. And you know how I like to sleep, and sleeping in isn't a viable option. Good night."

"Ugh, fine," Jared groans, leaping down to his own bunk, "Good night."

In response, Jaden shoves his face into his mattress and puts his pillow over his head in the usual fashion.  
  
Several weeks later, the cadets are training their hand-to-hand combat skills. Everyone is doing basic throws and a few people, such as Jared and Jaden, are doing fancier things. The two individuals are practicing more martial techniques, being ignored by Herth of course, wherein one will run at the other with a woden knife and the other one will do something like kicking the other to the ground, kicking the knife out of the other's hand, dizzying them with a blow to the head, and will sometimes take a break in between the exercises to recuperate, discuss pressure points, and other such things. The other cadets are doing throws or basic grab-n-twist. Lliam and Ayden are, among others, performing haphazardly as they for one reason, another, or perhaps a few, see the combat training exercises as useless. Whilst Jaden and Jared are doing what they're doing, and collecting a few light bruises from each other, they are approached by one of the female cadets: one of the few with her hair cut above her ears. She approaches the duo after Jaden is tripped by Jared, an excited look to her eyes, which hold up dark under circles.

"What are you two doing?" she askes curiously.

"Training, obviously," Jaden responds, lifting his head up to look towards her.

"You're doing it differently than we were told to do it," she remarks, squeezing and raising her eyebrows.

"We're fuckin bored, man," Jaden reasons, plonking his head back onto the ground, "We were doing those throws for like thirty minutes, so we decided to do some flashier shit."

"Ah," she returns before walking away. Or rather, she walks on to talk to her friend towards whom she had already begun walking before catching sight of Jaden and Jared. Jaden and Jared continue their screwing-around until a mishap leads to Jaden cutting his knee on an unusually sharp pebble while he went down from a quick knock to the shin, ending in the sitting-down position.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." Jared apologizes, holding out a hand to help Jaden up.

"It's. fine," Jaden squeezes out, extending his hand slowly upward while he looks at his knee and then flops his arm on the ground. Thinking this might be melodramatics, Jared squats down to take a good look at Jaden, who he notices looks a few shades paler than usual. After some failed communication attempts, which involve Jaden not managing to squeeze out more than a few words and barely managing to keep his head up, Jared attempts to help Jaden up, who shakes a bit and falls back down. Jared, not knowing what to do, seeks out Herth and explains the situation and leads him back to Jaden. Herth grabs Jaden by the head and tilts his head upwards do he can look into Jaden's eyes - dilated. He looks the rest of Jaden over and notices the wound, unusually deep, as the pebble had stuck itself it.

"Fear reaction. Jaden's probably haemophobic," Herth concludes.

"What?" Jared perplexicates.

"Aye, haemophobic. A bit tragic, too. He's one of the most talented cadets here. But with this, he might not even make it in real combat," Herth impresses.

Jaden strains, taking up on one knee and one hand while extending a hand up to Jared. Jared helps him up but once again Jaden's unease causes him to sink back down to a knee within several seconds. Jared lifts Jaden back up and holds Jaden up on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir," Jared begins, "May we take a few moments to have a seat?"

"Jaden may. You join someone else's group. I'll have medical staff tend to Jaden," Herth tells Jared.

"May I at least walk him over to a place he can sit?" Jaden proposes.

"Yes, take him over to the bunkhouse" compromises Herth, who walks off to fetch medical staff. Jared walks Jaden over to the bunkhouse, seating him on a bench situated on the porch, whereafter he tears the sleeve of his shirt below the elbow and wraps the fabric around Jaden's wound; after pulling the pebble out of Jaden's knee which causes him to become even more nauseous. Deciding it's not good to linger too long and follow orders, Jared goes off and joins the group of a couple of underachievers. While Jared is off tutoring the others, the medical staff finally tend to Jaden, who had begun regaining his ability to speak coherently. The medical staff have him recount what happened while they take his blood pressure and heart rate, indeed confirming that he is haemophobic.

"It's not gonna be an easy job, going through training with this," says the nurse as he applies antibiotic via rag, "I haven't seen any haemophobic cadets make it out. It's not exactly my place to tell you what to do, but I don't think the life of a soldier is for you with this type of condition."

"It was two years ago I'm assuming," Jaden suggests, veering the subject in a different direction.

"What are you talking about?" asks the nurse as he rubs his hands with disinfectant.

"Two years ago, when the wall was infiltrated. Boulders.... crushed the people behind me, and splattered their blood entirely over my backside. A child was eaten in front of my eyes and his blood was misted over the crowd. I'm assuming that's what caused it," He suggests again.

"Well, possibly: that sounds like the sort of traumatic experience to develop haemophobia. You might also be genetically predisposed to it, as many citizens who have similar stories haven't developed the phobia. Rather, they developed a fear of titans."

"Will this affect me if I kill a titan?"

"I have no idea. There have never been any reports of a soldier with this condition. Perhaps you'll differentiate titan blood and human blood, perhaps not," ponders the nurse, packing up his equipment, "It'll be interesting to see how you react when, or if, you graduate trainees." With this, the nurse leaves.  
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Meanwhile  
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Jared approaches two cadets who are having troubles: an inverted oblong-face red-haired female cadet with bunned-up hair, and the nervous male cadets whose bunk Jaden commandeered. The female cadet seemed to be doing fine, actually: it is the male cadet who is having troubles, flubbing the throws and not even moving the female cadet.

"Come on, stop resisting," the male cadet pleads pitifully.

"A real person is going to resist. You need to work past it," She explains. She then catches sight of Jared standing just outside of their conversation, "Can we help you?"

"I see you two are having troubles?" He notes.

"No real troubles. This asshole just doesn't want to flip me," She explains.

"I don't want to hurt her..." He explains. In response, the female cadet shoves the fake knife into the nervous one's hands.

"Too bad," She states, taking up a ready stance, "Come at me, bitch."

"No, I don't want to," he refuses. She fusses and sheds her stance.

"You're a fucking chicken shit," she berates.

"I... I just don't want to hurt..." he stutters.

"- A girl, right? You think I'm too frail because I'm a girl," she accuses, approaching him and grabbing him by the collar, interrupting his desperate bouts of "no" and "I".

"Come at me with the knife you ass,"she commands, shoving him back and taking up stance again. Once he again refuses to attack her, she loses some of her sanity it seems.  
"Holy fuck you're the biggest pussy I've ever met, how are you even planning on becoming a soldier?" she yells, washing a look over his eyes that say his self-esteem has buckled and fallen over like a board.

"Alright," Jared interrupts, stepping in front of the nervous male cadet, "I'll take over his place in your partner ship. But, after I find him a different teammate." With that, Jared begins to lead the nervous boy away after coaxing the knife from him. As as soon as he turns around, however, he catches sight of Jaden wandering over to their location and, although he still looks some-what pale, he is able to walk about as stably as normal. He has a defeated expression that only Jared could read due to it being hidden behind diligently-trained nonchalance. Jaden asks what's happened as he gets within a few feet of Jared and the other cadet.

"Well," Jared explains, "This trainee seems a bit nervous to hurt any body, so I'm taking him to find another partner that won't attack his self-esteem. As a matter of fact..." Jared trails off, looking back to the female cadet who is standing and tapping her thigh with her hand. He hands the wooden knife to Jaden and says, "Are you still feeling up to training?"

"I may be a bit wobbly, but I can still do things," Jaden brushes off, accepting the knife, "So is that who he was training with?"

"Yeah. She's the one"

"Okay, whatever. You're going to train with him?"

"Yeah, might as well."

"Cool," Jaden responds, closing the conversation and walking toward the cadet girl. Jared takes up the nervous cadet and finds a separate place for the two of them to train.

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Jaden approaches the fierce-looking redhead with no anticipation whatsoever and, when a few feet from her, rapidly picks up the speed and thrusts the knife toward her throat. She slaps his hand away and grabs his elbow, preparing to trip him. However, when she moves her leg to trip him, Jaden responds by kicking the calf muscle of her now solitary supporting leg. She yelps and falls to her butt, holding her leg and looking at Jaden with a mix of anger and admiration.

"That was a good try. The average citizen would certainly have been knocked down," Jaden states with surprising sincerity. He offers a hand down to her and, once she refuses and gets up herself, hands the knife to her. Rather than rush him, she fakes Jaden out and, while Jaden is protecting his face, thrusts the knife toward his rib cage. Jaden barely manages to back up and avoid the knife tip, then grabs her hand, twisting her arm around. After dropping the knife to make her arm less uncomfortable, she headbutts Jaden: forehead to forehead, which Jaden rather than avoiding or blocking, meets head-on, putting as much force into his own headbutt as she does hers. This stuns the both of them and in effect causes Jaden to release her hand, but because Jaden had expected his head meeting hers more than she had expected his head, he recovered slightly before her and thus bends down to pick up the knife and backs away from her. She recovers immediately after he backs up and post eyes meeting, Jaden waggles the knife about tauntingly.

"I win," Jaden mocks. Rather than getting angry at such a remark, she chuckles and rubs her head.

"Heh. You're not bad," She compliments, "So who are you?"

"Jaden."

"Gloria," The female cadet answers. They extend no hands: the bruises on the twos' foreheads are enough of an ice breaker, "As a matter of interest, what regiment are you panning to join?"

"Scout Regiment."

"Same. Guess I'll see ya there," She says, walking away. At first this leaves Jaden wondering where she is going, and then leaves him wondering if she's psychic when they call to move on to the next exercise: ODM training.

* * *

 

Chapter Four  
The Rebreadening

A few months following the events predescribed, the trainees are given their first day off to roam the streets with the citizens. Jaden and Jared are roaming the marketplace, checking out wares they can't afford. In fact, the only thing they can hope to afford that either of them want is food. Jaden and Jared are each seperately perusing a different market stall when Jaden comes across a familiar style of bread. He reaches out and gives it a good squeeze.

"Fluffy on the inside, is it?" Jaden asks.

"I'd like to say it's the fluffiest," Pitches the vendor, leaning against her stall on her elbows. Jaden swipes up the bread, takes a bite out of it, and slams money down in front of the merchant before she can fuss, "I'd say so, too." Jaden swallows the bread, looks at the fluffy innards, squeezes the bread and his thoughts trace back to that day. Trace back to the memories of those people crushed and sprayed out behind him.

'Why the hell?...' He ponders as he stares blankly at his loaf.

"Jaden," Jared says from behind Jaden and crunching on something. Jaden turns around to see that it is the object to which Jared refers in his sentence, "The vendor over here has a really good assortment of apples. And they're cheap, too."

"Oh, really?" Jaden asks as he watches a streak of apple juice waterslide down Jared's chin. Jared wipes the apple-drool off with his sleeve and hands Jaden the already half-eaten apple, out of which he takes a bite. He hums while he crunches and forces the apple down his throat.

"You might want to chew your food more before you swallow," Jared advises before reaching his hand out for the apple. Jaden takes another bite out of the bread he is eating, lament seeping through the centre of his analytical eyes.

"Jaden. Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, yes," Jaden assures, arresting the rising flashback-insanity welling up into his demeanor. After he swallows throughly-chewed bread, he goes on, "Those apples are amazing: I'm starting to thing this whole market plaza is filled with the best food available."

"Yeah, you're not the only one that thinks so. Harvey and Phill bought some stew from the stall over there, and they're saying it's the best they've ever tasted."

"Well I certainly know where I'm going the next time we have a day off," Jaden remarks before he asks the market vendor from whom he bought the bread if she has any paper to wrap the bread in, to which she gladly obliges. Jaden wraps the bread up and walks away from the stall, walking over to the apple vendor who sells him a hefty bag of red apples for most of the rest of Jaden's money. He places the bread into the apple bag and heads off, "Come on, let's go back. I wanna catch a nap."  
They do just that and Jaden does just that, after eating an apple. This leaves Jared bored and antsy to go about and walk a bit. He steps out the bunkhouse and looks at the position of the sun.

'Not long before we have to report back for dinner.'

He begins walking before a small huff is let out of him.

'The walk back to town takes too long. By the time I get there, I'll probably have already been late for roll call.'

He decides to search the premises for any other trainees than himself and Jaden. After searching for a rough five minutes, he finds Harvey and Phill, a round-faced cadet with a short mo-hawk on his otherwise shave head, sitting in the middle of the training area. When he walks up, the two stop their conversation. Harvey recognises Jared from the times when Jared would assist him, and greets him. Phill recognises him as well, though does not know him by any deed, only knowing him by reputation.

"Hello," Jared greets, "How was your day off?"

"It went just fine," Harvey replies.

"Yeah. We just sort of walked around," Phill adds.

"What's Jaden doing?" Asks Harvey with a hint of a jab, as he is the one to whom Jaden gave the unhelpful 'balance muscle' advice.

"Taking a nap."

"Huh. How're you gonna wake him up for dinner?" asks Harvey.

"I don't know. He's always been troublesome to bring to consciousness, especially after afternoon naps. He's even harder to wake up some than others: I'm hoping it'll be easy today," Jared thinks aloud.  
"Yeah. Jaden's a little crazy, I think," says Phill, "He's smart and cool and all, but he's a little weird."

"Can't say I blame him," Jared responds, "But it is what it is. Anyways. What all did you guys buy?"

"I didn't really buy anything," Phill replies, "Except for some stew. It was really good. Better than mom's, in fact. Harvey bought a charm necklace, though."

"Yeah," Harvey says, face lighting up and wrapping his fingers around the decorative piece strung through with leather, "I thought it looked nice."

"What's that symbol on it?" Jared asks.

"I think the vendor said it's a double Ouroboros. It's like two snakes eating each other," Harvey explains.

"That's pretty neat," Jared compliments, "how much?"

"Not too much. I still have about half my money left. I think it's made of iron," Harvey responds.

"I'm saving up so next time I can get a new shirt: a silk one. They breath really nice," Phill explains, tugging on his cotton button-up to ventilate it.

"Silk's really expensive. Do you think you'll have enough by then?" Asks Harvey.

"Hopefully," Phill replies.

"How soon do you think dinner will start?" Asks Jared, looking to the sun which is by now turning the sky crimson rather than daytime blue.

"Should be pretty soon now," Phill responds.

"Hope so. I'm starving," Harvey adds, "I just hope Jaden doesn't swipe my bread this time."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that, Harvey. I've tried to get him to stop doing that. On the bright side, it is only bread he takes. In fact, he seems to have some sort of insatiable appetite for it."

"Yeah. I don't really now what to think of him. He seems like a pretty nice guy apart from the whole bread-swiping thing, but recently he's been acting weird," Harvey proposes.

"Yeah. He's gotten a little competitive lately," Phill adds.

"I know," Jared admits, "He doesn't want to admit it, but he doesn't want to think there's anybody better than him."

"Have you tried talking him out of that, too?" Phill asks.

"Oh believe me, I have. In fact, I'm the only person he's ever said is as good as he is"

"You should put him in his place," Harvey spits out.

"I don't think I can. As much as I hate admitting it, I don't think I'm as good as Jaden is at this. But there is the issue of..." Jared trails off.

"What issue?" Harvey asks.

"... Nothing. Hopefully you guys will never find out."

"Hey, come on! Stop messing with us!" Phill fusses.

"I can't. At least not when I can avoid explaining it."

In the midst of their conversation, the boys hadn't noticed that the other recruits had returned and now they find themselves surrounded by chattering crowdlettes eagerly discussing their experiences amongst the general populace. Jared bids the two trainees off as he heads to the bunkhouse to wake Jaden, as dinner is imminent. Jared reaches the bunkhouse to find Jaden has already woken up and eaten two more apples.

'Save some for me, you piece of shit.'

Jared takes an apple and shoves it into his pocket as he heads back out. Before he leaves, a voice calls out from behind him. As the voice speaks, he looks around cautiously as the voice is one of a female.

"Jaden said he was going to spar with Phill, in case you were wondering," the hidden voice says.

"What are you doing here? And why Phill?"

"I was invited over here by Jaden for an apple. Glad he did, too: these apples are almost orgasmic. As for Phill, I have no idea. Maybe Jaden has the hots for him."

"You're suggesting Jaden has a crush on Phill."

"It was a joke, numbnuts. Of course he may actually like Phill: I have no idea what runs through his head."

"I'll figure that out later. Just get out of here before Herth make the both of us run 500 laps around the grounds."

"Alright, whatever," The voice speaks as a thump is heard, suggesting that the person was sitting on a top bunk. As the person comes out of the corner of the room and into more direct dusk-light, the face, hair, and figure of Gloria is revealed.

"Oh. It's you," Jared says, "You and Jaden made quick friends after he beat you up, huh?"

"Of course. Once two people with their heads up their asses head-butt each other, they make a real connection."

"Why do you say he has his head up his ass?"

"Oh come on, he's not totally unpredictable; He's different, but he's still easy to read. He thinks he's more talented than just about everybody here and even though that's true, he still has his head up his ass. And I probably have my head up my ass because I think I can catch up to him."

"That's not entirely impossible," Jared reasons.

"I know it's not. How about you Jared? Do you think you're as good as he is?"

"Almost. But my talents lie elsewhere: if you haven't noticed, Jaden isn't exactly a people person."

"Duh. All of the really talented ones are lone wolves: it's no secret. But people persons and asocials tend to stay away from each other, right? Why is is that Jaden's stuck to you?"

"Are you saying he has a crush on me too?"

"No, not quite. I like where you took that, though. No, I'm wondering why Jaden hangs out with the three of the most outgoing people in the whole squad when he's one of the most independent? It's strange, right?"

"Maybe opposites attract."

"Maybe. Or maybe.... Being with you gives him a social cloak?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's a bit of an indifferent ass and I don't have to tell you he's really sarcastic. You guys make him seem like less of an ass, which may be why he hangs out with you guys, especially you: you can "translate" what he says into a friendlier version to make him sound less abrasive."

"That sounds reasonable, but I've seen him have friendly interactions with other people as well."

"Not many. You've realised he's a highly sarcastic with anyone besides a few, right? I mean I know he has a heart of gold or some shit but he just doesn't like people, and you provide him with a means to avoid people. Jaden may be talented, but he doesn't have an affinity for people."

"You went on that entire tirade to tell me something I already know."

"Not exactly. You didn't know that you're his social protection."

"The way you talked about him made it sound as if he hates people."

"Not neccessarily. You don't know what a lack of talent means, do you? He doesn't necessarily hate people: he just doesn't have an affinity for social skills. Combine that with his intelligence and his introverted tendencies, and he tends to consciously distance himself from people. He does this by utilising his cleverness to conjure up sarcastic remarks."

"Okay, that's all very nice to know, but-"

"Dinner," Gloria calls the dinner bells as they resonate throughout the compound, sidestepping Jared, who stands still momentarily before following Gloria. When he catches up to her, he responds to her.

"It's no secret that Jaden isn't socially well-adjusted"

"Then what point are you trying to make?"

"I should ask the same of you."

"My point in telling you all that so you'll know how well I get to know people in a short amount of time."

"Why would I need to know that?"

"In case there's anyone you'd want to watch out for."

"Watch out for? Who, what are you talking about?"

"No one yet. But when the time comes, I'll tell you."

"Whatever," Jared brushes off, speeding up to the mess hall.  
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~half-an-hour ago...

 

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Jaden opens his eyes at a knock on the door. He wonders who would knock on the door rather than just let themself in: probably Shiveryfuck the Cowardly.

"Why are knocking on the door?" Jaden calls out.

"Just let me in before Herth sees me over here," responds a familiar voice.

"Come on in then, it's just me in here," Jaden says.

Gloria opens the door and shuts it hastily behind her.

"What are you doing over here?" Jaden asks.

"I heard you had killer apples," Gloria responds

"Killer apples are probably the best way to describe them. Although they don't do any killing," Jaden responds, leaps down from his bunk, shoves his hand into the apple bag and catapults one to Gloria. It arcs through the air and lands gracefully in her palm. She takes a small bite out of the apple and moans.

"Mm! That's awesome," She says.

"Yeah," Jaden responds, taking one for himself and tears off a quarter of it for himself to munch on.

"Are apples the only reason you came over?" Jaden asks.

"Pretty much. Also, I need to unravel the mystery of why you were so incapacitated a few weeksmonths ago. Jared won't tell me a thing," Gloria pushes.  
"

Incapacitated?"

"Yeah, I saw you training with Jared and you fell down or something and you couldn't get back up. Did you hit your head or something?"

"No. I just felt a little dizzy from the daytime heat," Jaden lies, "Long black hair, you know. Not easy to have."

"Uh-Huh. You should consider cutting it."

"I don't really look good with anything else."

"Bullshit. I know a few styles you'd look nice with."

"Whatever," Jaden says as he finishes the apple in his hand, "I'm going to go spar with someone."

"This late? And with who?"

"I'm thinking Phill."

"But he's not even a match for you."

"Perhaps I can teach him to be," Jaden reasons as he leaves the bunkhouse.

Gloria, sitting in silence apart from eating the apple, decides she would like a nap as well.

'But screw walking back over to the girls' bunkhouse. I think I'll just grab a nap here,' she thinks as she tosses the apple core out of the window, walks over to a bunk in the corner, jumps on and has a lie down. She sits there for a good five minutes, getting good and comfortable. That is, until the door opens. She looks over at the person entering the door, who happens to be Jared. She looks over at him staring at the apple bag and after hearing him grunt a bit, leaps down from the bunk.

"Jaden said he was going to spar with Phill, in case you were wondering."  
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Upon entering the mess hall, Jared catches sight of the usual table, but notices one missing component.

'Where's Jaden?'

Taking a further look around, he looks all around the mess hall and sees no sign of Jaden. He catches the eye of Gloria, who points up. Jared crunches his brow, looking now at the rafters. Jared's eyes set on Jaden, reclining on a rafter on the far side of the cafeteria, chewing on bread. Everyone seems to notice, glancing at him from time-to-time, but no body seems to care very much. Jared walks over to Jaden and sets his food down at the table nearest to underneath Jaden.

"What's up?" Jared asks.

"Obviously me," Jaden responds.

"Yes I can see that, but why are you up there?"

Jaden swings down, hanging onto the rafter by his knees and hands.

"I'm fine. Just got a little blood-dizzy in my sparring with Phill."

"Oh. So he knows about your condition?"

"Yes. However, I told him before we started sparring after he asked to take it easy on him. It was told more as a reason as to why I'd be going easy. He still has some bruises, though."

"Okay. But you didn't hurt him too badly, I hope?"

"Bruises only. Nothing else happened. When he asked to stop, we stopped."

"Okay, but Jaden?"

"What?"

"Why did you decide to spar with Phill in the first place?"

"Because I wanted to help him."

"You don't want to help anybody."

"That's because they're terrible to deal with. I think Phill has potential."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think he might be holding back or something."

"Jaden maybe he's just not as talented as you think he is. He doesn't get good grades, after all. Besides, we don't even get graded for combat."

Jaden "leans" closer to Jared, "Trust me. I intend to train him in much more than just martial arts. I will teach him to slay titans."

"Yes, but why? You don't even know him."

"I just told you, Come on. Don't you listen?"

"... Do you like him?" Jared asks, Gloria's "joke" from earlier popping back in mind.

"I think he's good enough. Why else would I bother to want to train him?"

"No, no. Jaden, do you like him."

"Refer back to what I just said."

"Jaden, I'm asking if you have a crush on Phill?"

"I have crushes on no one. Why do you ask?"

"I just think it's suspicious that you'd go and spar with Phill."

"You're not the only one, Jared, who likes to help people: I'm just more selective. You see, Phill has potential that other people don't see because he likes relaxing more than he likes competing in our collective cock contest, which is something I take a personal interest in."

"So you're going to... train him and motivate him because you admire that he isn't motivate- what?!"

"Precisely," Jared confirms with no falter.

"..." Jared has no words as he stares as his upside-down friend, unable to take him seriously with a face full of blood and gravity making his hair look three times its size. Jaden lifts himself back up to lying on the rafter. Finally Jared simply decides to change the subject, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Already did. Stew, bread, and an apple all in my stomach."

"You eat way too quickly. Don't you want to enjoy your food?"

"Enjoy? The food here? Have you even taste buds: The food here is blander than a titan's crotch."

"Ugh, whatever. Are you gonna come down from the rafter? It's probably hot up there."

"It is. But I feel like sleeping more."

"Your uniform is going to get dusty."

"My uniform puts up with dirt every day."

"Alright," Jared gives up, "I'll be at our usual table."

"Have fun."

Jared stands, picks up his tray, and heads over to the usual table in the centre of the room. Soon, Phill and Harvey take a seat at the table Jared had just occupied and soon after, Jared was greeted by a voice he recognized thoroughly by now.

"Hello," Gloria's voice greeted from below Jaden. Jaden looks to see Gloria had leapt up and grabbed on to the rafter Jaden rests on, pulling herself up. A"what the fuck" rises from the table below after Gloria lifts herself onto the rafter, "Having a good time, are you?"

"I was. Then you got here," Jaden chuckles along with Gloria.

"You fucking ass," she casually responds, swinging her legs back and forth. After a pause, she asks, "why are you up here anyways?"

"It's quieter up here. I don't have to deal with everybody's words."

"Are you sure it's not because there's a nice visual prize below?" She asks, motioning with her head to Phill.

"No. That's just a happy coincidence," He jokes, looking at the back of the mo-hawked head.

"You can't fool Jared, you know. And you can't fool me, either."

"What are you talking about?" Jaden asks, pulling his brows to the middle line of his forehead.

"You know what I'm talking about," She says as she reclines on the wooden beam, "but I won't squeeze your titties about it. What's your business is yours, I guess."

"Okay whatever. Have you already eaten?"

"I'm still running off that apple. I'm holding onto the bread, though."

"I see," Jaden says, places the back of his head against the apex of the wall and the ceiling, closing his eyes.

"Yup. You excited for out first titan dummy training?"

"Titan dummy training?"

"Yeah. Its gonna be next week."

"How do you know that?"

"I have my ways."

"Really?" Jaden asks with a disappointed undertone.

"Yeah. You don't think I'm just gonna fuckin' tell you my secret to getting information like, "Hey, I have telepathy"  or, "I'm banging the training officer" or whatever, do you?"

"Of course not. Of course you could have just said "I'm not gonna tell you"."

"Would you have said that?" Gloria proposes.

"Probably," Jaden responds, giving Gloria a chuckle.

"I look forward to seeing you in action."

"I'm interested to see how I perform as well."

"What about me, you jackass?"

"Well you, too. But I will be a bigger disappointment to me if I under perform than you would be to me if you under performed"

"Huh. Makes sense. Keep it up 'til then," She bids, preparing to leap down. Before she does, she pauses and says to Jaden, "By the way, don't tell anybody about the titan dummy exercise. Well, except for Jared and Phill, if you feel like it. But they can't tell anybody, either."

She leaps down and heads out of the mess hall. Jaden stays on his rafter until he hears commotion beneath him of gathering empty soup tins and preparing to leave. Jaden drops down onto the table before Harvey and Phill get up, rattling a loud thud through the mess hall, drawing the attention of anyone who bothers any more. Once people see Jaden on a table, however, they quickly become indifferent and return to what they're talking about in their respective groups.

"Jaden, what the hell?" Harvey shoves across his tongue, holding his bread close to his body.

"Phill," Jaden says, looking him in the eyes, "I need to tell you something after ODM training, so remind me."

"Okay..." Phill hesitates, disoriented by the last few seconds. Jaden leaps off the table and walks out of the mess hall, and is soon predictably followed by Jared.

"Hey," He says, placing his hand on Jaden's shoulder, "How was rafter time?"

"Titan dummy training."

"...What."

"We have titan dummy training next week."

"Okay what? Where did you hear that from?"

"Gloria."

"Gloria? I don't think I'd trust her. How does she know we're going to do titan dummy training?"

"She seems to be intuitive about what we're doing at all times. Rather, more than intuitive. She seems to know exactly what our training schedule is."

"Yes, I have noticed that she heads off just before we switch things up, but I don't think you should put too much stock in what she says."

"Probably. Couldn't hurt to be prepared though, could it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't push yourself for something that may or may not happen."

"I wasn't going to. I'm not a fool. By the way, she said I could also tell Phill. Should I tell him?"

"You're asking me this? I thought you'd just do it."

"I probably will. I just want another opinion."

"... I think you should train him like you were planning to. I wouldn't tell him about the alleged dummy training."  


"Okay," Jaden acknowledges as they arrive at the bunkhouse. Jaden opens the door and immediately heads for the apple bag and does with one what he usually does with food after he hops up on his bunk.

"Tired already?"

"The rafters, the air is warm up there. Soporific. Speaking of, what do you do when you wake up early?"

"I use that time to become almost as good as you.

"You are as good as I am."

"That's because I get early training in. I'm not as big a natural as you are at this, Jaden."

"Well, do what you must I suppose. I wonder if that's what Gloria does as well."

"I haven't seen her. She might just be a natural, too."

"Interesting. I might have a friendly rivalry on my hands, then."

"And Why is it you don't see me as a rival?"

"Because I don't see you as wanting to show me up. Someone like her is going to try and outdo me," reasons Jaden, throwing an apple core past someone's head and out of the window, "and I'm going to outdo her."

"Jaden, I thought you didn't want to get caught up in all this competition."

"Oh, I'm not proving I have a big dick. I'm just trying to keep up with her: It'd be a personal failure if I fell behind her."

Jared sighs, "So do you wanna get up early and train with me?"

"Ugh. I dunno."

"If you don't wanna fall behind me, I recommend you train early."

"Whatever," Jaden says, lying down, "wake me up I guess.

"Good night," Jared bids, taking his own bunk. Predictably, moderate snoring emanates from Jaden's bead minutes after they have a lie down, and Jared several minutes after.


End file.
